Whitehouse.gov Petitions Urge Obama To Pardon Snowden

Is Edward Snowden a hero or a traitor? Several Whitehouse.gov petitions have been filed on the We The People website urging President Obama to pardon the man responsible for the recent NSA spying leak.

One petition, simple titled “Pardon Edward Snowden,” has already surpassed the 100,000 signature mark required to get a response from the White House.

The petition reads: “Edward Snowden is a national hero and should be immediately issued a a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs.”

The White House says that it will respond to any petition that gathers 100,000 signatures within 30 days but according to the CS Monitor it has ignored “Pardon Petitions” in the past.

Of course, the White House doesn’t need to officially response for American citizens to see how they feel about Edward Snowden being called a national hero.

The United States is currently trying to have Snowden extradited back to the United States where he will be charged with espionage.

Another Whitehouse.gov petition asks Obama to engage Snowden in a debate over privacy and the NSA.

That petition reads: “President Obama, you have said that the NSA’s blanket tracking of Americans’ phone calls and collaboration with tech giants “struck the right balance” and that you “welcome this debate.”… To make the opposing case, we can think of no one better than whistleblower Edward Snowden.”

That petition only has a few signatures and will probably never see the light of day.